Treatment of paper and other fibrous material for journl-jearings



(No Model.)

. H. W. MORROW. TREATMENT OF PAPER AND OTHER EIBROUS MATERIAL FOR JOURNAL Patented July 21, 1885.

BEARINGS, BELTING, m. No. 322,629.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

HENRY \V. MORROTV, OF TVILMINGTON, DELATVARE.

TREATMENT OF PAPER AND OTHER FIBROUS lVlATERlAL FOR JOURNL-BEARINGS, BELTING, &c.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 322,629, dated July 21, 1885.

Application filed May 25, 1885.

To all whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, HENRY W. MoRRoW, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of \Vilmington, Delaware, have invented certain Improvements in the Treatment of Paper and other Fibrous Material, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to treat sheetpaper, either sized or unsized, and woven fabrics or similar fibrous material so as to produce therefrom sheets or slabs tough and strong in texture and capable of resisting the action of most acids and alkalies. The material thus produced I term celluvert.

In carrying out my invention I take paper or equivalent fibrous material in sheet form and pass it through a bath of nitric acid or one of its salts, the-paper being immersed in the solution for a sufficient length of time to dissolve the surfaces thereof into a glutinous or pasty condition, but not long enough to effect a complete solution. I then bring two or more layers of the material with their dissolved surfaces together under pressure, either with or without heat, so that they will adhere firmly together, and so produce the material which I term celluvert.

Among the salts of nitric acid which may be used I may name nitrate of zinc and nitrate of lime, which possess the same solvent action on the vegetable fiber as does the nitric acid itself.

Either the nitric-acid solution or the nitrate solution may be used alone or may be com bined with other acids, bases, or salts,or solvents of cellulose. For instance, good results may be obtained by adding muriatic acid or other acids to the nitric-acid bath. cupra-ammonium, zinc-ammonium, or chloride of zinc may be combined with the nitrate bath. If nitric acid alone is used, I prefer to use it at the strength of from 42 to 49 Baum. If the nitrates are employed, I prefer to have them concentrated to a sirupy condition of about to 75 Baum. In either case the solvent may be heated and agitated, if desired.

While I do not limit myself to any special form of machinery for treating paper or other fibrous material and cementing them together, I may use an apparatus such as shown in the sectional view in the accompanying drawing.

Again,

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The sheet-paper or other material is preferably in the form of a roll, A, which is unwound continuously, and the sheet passes down into the solvent solution in a long shallow trough, B, the sheet being kept immersed by passing under transverse rods b b. From near the opposite end of the trough the sheet passes out of the solution and between a pair of squeezing rollers or scrapers, D D, in order to remove the excess of solution. For eonvenience I prefer to allow the solution thus removed to run back into the bath, and the surplus solution soaked out of the sheets or slabs may be recovered for use again by evaporation. The length of time the sheets are submerged must be governed to a great extent by the character of the bath employed, by its temperature, and the thickness and permeability of the paper or other material, as well as the extent to which it is desired to dissolve the surfaces of the sheets in order to cement them together. Under ordinary circumstances the time of submersion is about half a minute or so. The sheet of material, after passing from the scrapers or squeezing-rolls with its surfaces partially dissolved, is impacted and concentrated in layers, and for this purpose I prefer to wind the sheet up onto a horizontal heated drum, E, provided with flanges. On this cylinder is mounted a pressure roller, F, which simply rests with its weight on the roll of paper as it is being wound up, the pressure roller being free to rise or fall with its journals in grooved guides. This roller F is preferably heated, and by its weight it imparts solidity to the slab formed by the cementing together of the layers of paper wound up. \Vhen a roll of the desired thickness is obtained, it may be removed from the cylinder by splitting it longitudinally of the drum. The sheet or slab is then soaked in alkaline or clear water, according to the character of the mixture or the amount of flexibility desired. It is then slowly dried and pressed, and the surface thereof may receive a coat of gum, oil, glycerine, or saccharine matter, or any mixture of the same. The sheets or slabs thus produced are useful for various purposessuch, for instance, as journal-bearings, belting, trunks, washers, cop-tubes, skaterollers, &c. They may also be made into knife-handles, and various forms and shapes of non-conductors of electricity. The sheets or slabs may be made either hard and hornlike or pliable and leather-like, according to the use to which the celluvert is to be put. The sheets or slabs may be softened or made pliable by immersion in a bath of glycerine or saccharine matter, or both, the said bath consisting of about two-thirds water and one'third glycerine or saccharine matter, or glycerine and saccharine matter combined. If desired, a compound sheet may be formed by cementing a sheet of woven material between sheets of paper by the process described above. Starch, gum, mucilage, dextrine, or any form of cellulose may be advantageously added tothe paper or fabric, either during the manufacture of the same or before treatment in the manner above described, or these substances may be dissolved in the nitric acid or its equivalent transforming fluid before described previous to the immersion of the paper or similar material therein.

Ifdesired, any mineral or earthy substancestarch, gum, dext'rine, or any form of cellulosemay be sifted in or between the layers of paper or similar material as they are being wound onto the roll.

I am aware that nitric acid has been used in the treatment of paper pulp, and also in the treatment of single sheets of paper or fabric; but

I claim as my invention- 1.. The process herein described of. treating paper and other vegetable fibrous substances, said process consisting in subjecting them in sheet form to the action of nitric acid or a salt thereof and uniting two or more layers so treated.

2. The process herein described of treating paper and other vegetable fibrous substances, said process consisting in passing them in sheet form through a bath of nitric acid or a salt thereof, and uniting them in layers as they pass from the bath, substantially as set forth.

3. The process herein described of treating sheets of paper or other vegetable fibrous substances, said process consisting in passing them through a bath of nitric acid or a salt thereof, andpressing the layers of treated sheets to cement them together, substantially as specified.

4. The process herein described of treating paper and other vegetable fibrous substances, said process consisting in subjecting them in sheet form to the action of nitric acid or a salt thereof, in connection with another solvent or solvents of cellulose, and uniting layers of the sheets, substantially as set forth.

5. The process herein described of treating paper or other vegetable fibrous substances,

said process consisting in subjecting them in sheet form to the action of nitric acid or a salt thereof, in connection with another acid, base, or salt, andthen uniting the layers of the sheets by pressure, substantially as specified.

6. The process herein described of treating paper or other vegetable fibrous substances, said process consisting in subjecting them'in sheet form to the action of nitrate of zinc, and then uniting layers of the sheets by pressure, substantially as specified.

7. The process herein described of treating sheets of paper and other fibrous vegetable substances, said process consisting in subjecting the sheets to the action of nitric acid or a salt thereof, and then uniting layers of the sheets by pressure and heat.

8. The process herein described of treating sheets of paper or other fibrous vegetable sub- 80 stances, said process consisting in subjecting the sheets to the action of a bath of nitric acid or a salt thereofiuniting layers of the sheets, and combining with the paper or other substance, before, during, or after treatment, starch, gum, mucilage, dextrine, or equiva lent, as set forth. v p

9. The process herein described of treating sheets of paper or other fibrous vegetable sub stances, said process consisting in subjecting the sheets to the action of nitric acid or a salt. thereof, uniting the sheets, and finally soaking out the chemical, as described.

10. As an improvement in the treatment of paper by nitric acid or a salt thereof, the process herein set forth of soaking the paper after treatment to remove the chemical and recov cring the latter by evaporation or otherwise, substantially as specified.

11. As a new manufacture, articles made of ICC sheets of paper or similar material treated with nitric acid or one of its salts, and united in layers, substantially as described.

12. As a new article of manufacture, a compound sheet composed of paper and woven material treated with nitric acid ora salt there of, and united in layers, substantially as described.

13. As a new manufacture, articles made of sheets of paper or similar material treated with nitric acid or one of its salts, in connection with another solvent or other solvents of cellulose, and united in layers, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name 'to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. I,

HENRY \V. MORROW.

\Vitnesses:

HENRY Bossnnr, HARRY SMITH. 

